In part 2 of his new series, Finding a Solution to the Federal Hemp Ban, Jonathan Miller interviews Christopher Lackner, Founder and President of the Hemp Beverage Alliance. If you have questions about the episode or ideas for Hemp related topics, email us at hemplegallyspeaking@fbtlaw.com. Hemp Industry questions covered in the episode: What is the Hemp Beverage Alliance and what is its mission? What the current marketplace for hemp beverages? What kind of regulation would you like for the hemp beverage industry, and how closely do that compare to alcohol? Should there be THC milligram limits on hemp beverages and if so, what would they be? What is your organization doing to prevent the hemp ban from taking effect? Which legislation do you support? What can our listeners do to join in these efforts?

Christopher Lackner - Finding a Solution to the Federal Hemp Ban: Episode 2

Hemp Legally Speaking

Welcome back to Hemp Legally Speaking, FBT Gibbons' podcast on all things hemp and CBD and beverages and regulations and you name it. I'm Jonathan Miller. I am the chair of FBT Gibbons Hemp Practice Group. I'm also the general counsel for the US Hemp Roundtable. US Hemp Roundtable is one of the leading organizations in the hemp advocacy space and I'm pleased to be talking today.

to a leader of another major organization, the Hemp Beverage Alliance. With me is Christopher Lackner who is the founder and president of Hemp Beverage Alliance or HBA. Welcome to Hemp Legally Speaking. Well thanks for having me. So Chris tell us a little bit about the genesis of HBA and what your mission is and you know in a lot of groups out there you all have a niche and kind of share that with our listeners.

Yeah, absolutely. So the Hemp Beverage Alliance is the trade association for the hemp beverage industry. We have about 370 member organizations in our group and that's throughout the United States, Canada and also one in Europe. So we've grown very quickly. I think we started around 2023 with eight members and we've already gone up to 375.

The reason why the Hemp Beverage Alliance exists is pretty simple is that the hemp beverage industry or the beverage industry generally has unique stakeholders. You know, the supply chain partners that we work with, the end retailers that we generally work with are unique to the beverage category.

And so we felt to bring that section of the, of the working world or the, you know, the industry into the fold. They needed or we needed a distinct trade association with a very specific mission statement which is to advocate for hemp beverages.

Christopher Lackner - Finding a Solution to the Federal Hemp Ban: Episode 2

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Christopher Lackner - Finding a Solution to the Federal Hemp Ban: Episode 2

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.